Concerns About Teaching
Running head: CONCERNS ABOUT TEACHING
Concerns About "Teaching" at Professional Conferences
Baron Perlman and Lee I. McCann
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
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Concerns About Teaching
Abstract
Faculty, as "students," at professional meetings, expect high quality
"teaching." We obtained their peeves about the "teaching" they received
at conferences and found concerns across the teaching spectrum. These
concerns can serve as guidelines for presenters to improve the quality of
their presentations and pedagogy.
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Concerns About Teaching
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Concerns About "Teaching" at Professional Conferences
Most efforts to improve teaching involve undergraduate and
graduate instruction. But other pedagogy, largely ignored in the literature,
occurs when we teach and learn at professional meetings and
conferences. How might this teaching be improved? Brookfield (1995)
argues that we do not really understand the outcome and impact of our
teaching, nor how to improve it, until we ask students how they perceive
our pedagogy. Asking undergraduate students their pet peeves about
faculty teaching is one example (e.g., Perlman & McCann, 1998). We
used this technique with faculty in the role of "student" attendees at
professional psychology forums. Their opinions should prove useful for
any presenter interested in enhancing the quality of their conference
"teaching."
Method
Participants
We surveyed attendees at a state (N = 29, response rate = 100%),
regional (N = 78, response rate = 63%), and national (N = 400, response
rate = 12%) teaching conference and colleagues at two doctoral and two
master's departments (N = 18). One hundred forty-one responded; 134
contributed usable data.
Procedure
All attendees responded individually during one session at the state
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teaching conference. At the regional meeting we distributed a brief
questionnaire to all participants to be completed and returned before the
conference ended. At the national meeting an announcement indicated a
questionnaire was available at the registration desk and could be returned
there. We also distributed questionnaires to faculty in our own department
and asked colleagues to do the same in three other departments.
Potential participants were told:
"We are interested in the quality of teaching that takes place at
conferences. What are your pet peeves (major dislikes and annoyances)
about conference workshops, symposia and other presentations you have
attended over the past few years (e.g., APA, APS, NITOP). Take a few
minutes and write down your two or three major pet peeves about such
presentations. What bothers you or annoys you the most?"
Results and Discussion
Respondents provided an average of 2.0 pet peeves (SD = 0.70,
Median and Mode = 2). Table 1 categorizes 265 responses in four
categories: preparation and content, style and rapport, managing time/
audience/questions/interchange, and visual aids. The six most frequently
listed concerns fall across all four categories: poor rapport with audience
(n = 33, 12%), illegible visual aids (n = 30, 11%), presentation too long or
starting late (n = 21, 8%), disorganized presentation (n = 21, 8%), lack of
congruence between titles/abstracts and content presented (n = 19, 7%),
Concerns About Teaching
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and little or no time for questions/interchange (n = 19, 7%). Balance
seems important. Attendees complained about both too much and too
little material, some audience members monopolizing or too little
opportunity to participate, and so forth.
Preparation and practice are important as few presentations
exceed one hour, and there is little if any opportunity to correct
deficiencies, a process we call "one trial teaching." We recommend that
conference "teachers" keep in mind that attendees have often traveled
long distances to hear them, often choosing not to attend attractive
concurrent sessions. In looking at many of the concerns, we conclude that
"less may be more." Attendees can always read in depth, contact
presenters, and continue their learning after the conference. First,
however, they need a clear, concise presentation of the important issues,
and they expect to obtain this through quality teaching at the meetings
they attend.
Concerns About Teaching
References
Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Perlman, B., & McCann, L. I. (1998). Students' pet peeves about
teaching. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 201-203.
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Notes
1. We acknowledge the assistance of conference attendees and our
colleagues. This article is based on a poster to be presented at the 2002
Annual National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, St. Petersburg
Beach, FL.
2. Address correspondence to Baron Perlman, Department of Psychology,
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI 54901; e-mail:
Perlman@uwosh.edu.
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Table 1
Audience Pet Peeves About Conference Presentations
__________________________________________________________
Na
%b__
or content integration, no take home message)
21
8
Title/Abstract do not accurately describe content
19
7
17
6
16
6
Handouts (e.g., too few, incomplete, irrelevant)
14
5
Unprepared presenter/discussant
10
4
8
3
105
40
33
12
___________________________________________
Preparation and Content
Disorganized (e.g., no outline or summary, no themes
Lack of content (e.g., too much intro/small talk,
audience generates content, use of icebreakers)
Content choice (e.g., too high/low or technical, expert
does not share expertise, lack of depth, conclusions
not supported by data, no theory, too theoretical, no
examples )
Too much material
Total
Style and Rapport
Poor rapport with audience (e.g., reading verbatim)
(table continues)
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__________________________________________________________
Na
___________________________________________
%b__
Speaking style (e.g., monotone voice, boring, no
enthusiasm, no humor, talks too fast or slowly)
18
7
Lack of respect (e.g., pompous, arrogant, talk down
to audience, not approachable, do not send promised
materials after conference)
8
3
59
22
Run too long, start late
21
8
No/little time for questions or interchange
19
7
11
4
Total
Managing Time/Audience/Questions/Interchange
Not managing audience well (e.g., audience
"experts" pontificate, muddy issues, audience
comments take too much time)
Not repeating inaudible questions
Total
3
1
54
20
30
11
Too much on overheads/slides/PowerPoint
8
3
PowerPoint: too fancy, distracting
5
2
Other (e.g., no visual aids, struggle to use technology) 4
2
Visual Aids
Illegible (e.g., print too small)
(table continues)
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__________________________________________________________
___________________________________________
Total
Total
Na
%b__
47
18
265c
______________________________________________________________________________________
a
Attendees (n = 134) usually gave more than one peeve per category.
Responses represent number of peeves, not attendees.
b
Percent = number of responses/total number given.
c
Total percentage may not equal sum of item percentages due to
rounding.